Hammer.



PATENTED JUNE 11, 1901. I

s. s. STYUHAG.

H ER.

APPLIUATIO an FEB. 7, 1907.

HE W W? 6W wk 3 My w A TTORNE Y8 SOREN S. STUHAG, OF YE YORK, N. Y.

HAMMER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 1907.

Application filed Fehrtar r 7,1907. Serial No. 356,131.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SoREN S. STUIIAG, a subject of the King of Norway,and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Brooklyn, in thecounty of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and ImprovedHammer, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to hammers, and especially to hand hammers suchas used in driving nails.

The object of the invention is to produce a hammer having means forholding the nail so as to start it in the wood without necessitatingthat the nail be held in the fingers when the first blows of the hammerare struck. The hammer is especially useful facilitating the applicationof nails in inaccessible places such as a corner.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts tobe more fully described hereinafter and particularly set forth in theclaims.

Reference is to be had to the accompany ing drawings forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a hammer constructed according to myinvention, a portion of the handle being broken away; this viewrepresents a nail held by the hammer ready to be started in the woodinto which the nail is to be driven; Fig. 2 is an elevation of theforward portion or poll of the hammer, as viewed from the right of Fig.1; and Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the parts, 1 represents the hammer head,the body of which is of any suitable form and attached to a handle 2.The head of the hammer is formed into a poll 3 which projects forwardlyand terminates in an enlarged head or knob 4. In the side of this knob 4and on the side thereof disposed toward the handle 2, a channel orgroove 5 is formed, said channel being dis osed parallel with the axisof the poll 3, as indicated. In the poll just beyond this channel thereis seated a post6 which is driven tight in a transverse opening 7 formedin the poll as shown. The post 6 projects beyond the axis of the groove5 so that its lower face, as viewed in Fig. 1, may operate as a stop orabutment against which may rest the head 8 of a nail 9 lying in thegroove in the manner indicated. On the side of the post 6 remote fromthe groove, an upwardly projecting pin 10 is mounted in the post, andabout this pin there is disposed a coiled spring 11. The lower portionof this spring is formed into a downwardly extending shank 12, runningsubstantially parallel with the axis of the poll and offset laterallyfrom the position of the groove, as indicated in Fig. 2. At its lowerextremity this shank 12 is formed into a laterally projecting finger 13,which is slightly curved, as indicated in Fig. 3, to conform to theperiphery of the hammer at the knob 4. This finger 13 extendstransversely of the groove 5, as shown, and on the side of the grooveopposite the shank 12 it is bent outwardly to form a lip 1 f, asindicated most clearly in Fig. 3.

When there is not a nail in the groove, the inner portion of the lip 14at its junction with the finger 13, lies against the face of the knob 4,as will be readily understood. \Vhen it is desired to apply a nail inthe groove, the body of the nail is held in substantially the positionindicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2, and so that the nail restsagainst the face of the knob. The nail is then forced toward the right,passing readily under the lip 1 1 and into the groove, whereupon it isslid longitudinally upwardly in the groove until the head of the nailrests against the under side of the post, as shown in Fig. 1.

The coils of the spring 11 about the pin 10 tend, of course, to pressthe finger 13 toward the nail, so that it exerts a resilient pressureupon the side of the nail operating to hold the nail in place when thenail is being started in the Wood. l/Vith the nail in the position shownin Fig. 1, a light blow is struck with the hammer so as to seat thepoint of the nail in the wood. By an upward movement of the hammer, thenail quickly (lisengages itself from the finger 13, whereupon the hammeris used to drive the nail in the usual manner.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. A hammer having a poll with an enlarged end or head and provided witha vertical groove in the head and a transverse opening above the headand in alinement with said groove, a post secured in the opening of thepoll and provided with a pin projecting from its upper face, and aspring coiled upon the said pin and having one end engaging the poll,the other end of the spring extending downwardly approximately parallelwith the poll and terminating in a curved and laterally projectingfinger having an outwardly bent lip and extending across the groove ofthe head of the poll and normally engaging said head.

2. A hammer having a poll provided with a projection extending laterallytherefrom and having a vertical pin on its upper face, the poll beingprovided with a Vertical groove below the projection and in alinementtherewith, and a spring coiled upon the pin of the projection and havingone end engaging the poll, the other end of the spring extendingdownwardly approximately parallel with the poll and terminating in acurved and laterally projecting finger extending across the groove ofthe poll and normally engaging said poll.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

SOREN s. sTUH'Ae.

WVitnesses:

HAAVARD KoLsTAD, OTTO OLSEN.

